A emblem of SenseTime is seen throughout 2021 China Content material Broadcasting Community Exhibition at China Worldwide Exhibition Middle on Might 29, 2021 in Beijing, China.
Visible China Group | Getty Pictures
Shares of Chinese language synthetic intelligence firm SenseTime plunged as a lot as 18.25% on Monday, falling to an all-time low after information of its founder’s demise.
Hong Kong-listed shares of SenseTime dropped to as little as 1.03 Hong Kong {dollars} ($0.13) on Monday – the bottom degree within the agency’s historical past in response to LSEG information.
Shares of the AI firm are down about 50% year-to-date.
SenseTime founder and AI scientist Tang Xiao’ou died on Friday on the age of 55 after succumbing to an sickness, the firm mentioned in a press release on Saturday. SenseTime didn’t reveal the reason for his demise.
“It’s with a really heavy coronary heart that we announce the unhappy information that our beloved founder, Tang Xiao’ou … succumbed to an sickness and left us endlessly at 11:45pm on December 15, 2023,” mentioned SenseTime in a submit on its official WeChat account.
“Our deepest sympathies to Professor Tang’s household at this unhappy time! Professor Tang’s knowledge, enthusiasm and countless exploration of science will at all times encourage us to remain true to our authentic aspirations and forge forward,” the corporate mentioned on social media.
SenseTime develops AI software program platforms and applied sciences, together with AI-enabled content material technology and facial recognition. The corporate joined the worldwide race to develop generative AI since OpenAI’s ChatGPT exploded in recognition after its launch in November 2022.
Nonetheless, the corporate was positioned on a U.S. commerce black record in 2019, which restricts American corporations from doing enterprise with it. The U.S. alleged that SenseTime is linked to human rights violations in China’s Xinjiang area.
Tang based SenseTime in 2014 and the corporate was listed on the Hong Kong Inventory Trade in 2021. He additionally held the positions of director of Pujiang Laboratory, director of Shanghai AI Lab, and a professor of the Chinese language College of Hong Kong, in response to the corporate.
The corporate in its Saturday assertion hailed Tang as “an impressive consultant within the discipline of AI in China,” and referred to him as “educated, pragmatic and modern.”
